Higher education is an engine that has a tremendous impact on the economy. The departments of Treasury and Education have reported that “investing in education expands job opportunities, boosts America’s competitiveness, and supports the kind of income mobility that is fundamental to a growing economy.”
Our country needs a stable and vibrant higher education sector, and we need it now more than ever given the extensive impact of shutting down the U.S. economy due to the COVID-19 epidemic. Community colleges, private universities, and state schools drive the economies of their communities.
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Today, they are even more important when considering vulnerable communities such as the urban core, tribal sovereign lands, and rural communities. Research shows that the positive impact of higher education in these communities positively affects job development, entrepreneurship, and cultural impact.
College leaders are accustomed to dealing with traumatic events. Meningitis B is an annual concern on college campuses. We understand the importance of rapid testing, tracking, and tracing. We hold tabletop drills and review crisis protocols for natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, and wildfires.
The response of the leadership at Tulane University after the impact of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 remains a case study for both emergency response and community rebuilding. Wildfires in Sonoma County, California, in 2017 and 2018 prompted emergency responses from campus administrators to students that included use of face masks and orders to remain inside.
That resonates with what we are experiencing today.
President Trump can make a significant statement about how serious he is regarding opening the country to spark an economic recovery by appointing a higher education task force to create guidelines and health protocols to open colleges and universities this coming fall.
For this reason and many others, this task force should be represented by a diverse group of college presidents and university leaders.
Our professional experiences as college presidents, in addition to responding to trauma, includes wrestling with tight budgets, public pressure, expectations, and responsiveness. Handling these complex issues is in our DNA. We know how to close a community temporarily and then reopen it efficiently, effectively, and safely. We know how to address prudence, liability, and risk.
This unforeseen disaster brought about by COVID-19 closures will prompt unnecessary legal action, and we need to provide legal structures now to head off the “pandemic” of lawsuits that have already begun.
Media outlets have been quick to issue story after story that this pandemic will be the demise of our system of higher education. Policy experts have echoed many of these same sentiments. Higher education does indeed have some important challenges such as accessibility, affordability, and effectiveness. However, these incessant claims about its demise have been around since the early 1800s in spite of a continued resiliency that has proven them inaccurate time and time and time again.
This same resiliency will help us prepare a plan that addresses the needs of our campuses and our local communities.
This epidemic has affected different sections of the country differently. Certain sections of the states we live in will have more flexibility in how they reopen than others.
We cannot assume that one broad, sweeping set of guidelines will work for everyone. Given the diversity of colleges and universities, we understand the nuances and complexities of how decisions affect respective populations. University leaders work with mayors, local medical personnel, first responders, and emergency management personnel on a regular basis. We understand the importance of locality.
Reopening our country will require every business sector to accept this same challenge. Higher education leaders are poised to serve as a catalyst for the well-being of our communities as well as our economy by safely preparing our institutions to reopen this fall.
We need to get to work now, and we need the support of the federal government to do so.
Gene Crume is president of Judson University. He is on the board of the Associated Colleges of Illinois and the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities.
